2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Cherryfudge

maryb said:

I need a new dress for a wedding I'm going to.  Cannot find anything suitable in the shops - they're all floaty boho florals like Carrie Johnson likes to wear and would look ridiculous on a fairly stout 68 year old (I'm not overweight but my middle age has spread and I have NO waist but a tummy where it used to be)

I have a pattern for a nice dress which uses 2 metres of fabric plus one and a half for the lining.  I make that 7 coupons, the same as a bought dress in a non woollen fabric.  But I can only make a dress with a straight skirt with that yardage so if I were to make a 1940s style dress with a more A line skirt or a couple of small pleats to give walking room, it would need more fabric and cost more coupons.  That seemed a bit strange

I think this was a massive factor in the fashions of the 1940s, wasn't it? Trim every possible 'excess' from all garments. I believe men were quite upset to lose the turnups from trousers! I wonder if you could add a kick pleat with a contrast fabric? You might be able to find something secondhand but suitable online - try the Oxfam online shop or 3bay, perhaps?

TwibbleDee

I FINISHED IT!  No pictures tonight, as I’m going to bed now. Maybe tmw. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@TwibbleDee - coo, well done, that woman! I thought I saw the lights on very late at night over at the American air-base - it must have been you, sewing by the midnight oil... but another time, do check the black-out curtains, because if one of the wardens sees those lights, you'll get fined!  

@Cherryfudge and @maryb - yes, it was actually illegal to have excess trim on manufactured clothes, or designs that used too much fabric, so often the bought dress would use less fabric during the war years - the CC41 'Utility' cheese logo only went on approved garments! 
That's part of why the Dior 'New Look' was so shocking... it wasn't just that nobody had seen a skirt so full in years and years and years, but everyone had been conditioned to see full or long skirts as immoral! 

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

CapricornLass said:

 I've taught myself to knit two handed for colour work too.  I cant say that I'm particularly speedy with it, but I find I have more of a rhythm with that way than constantly taking my hands off the needle.  I was told that the main thing was to always use the same colour in the same hand, as it changes the look of the colours. 

It really does. Here is a sock-heel I had knitted most of with the wrong colour on top (wildly generalising, the paler one goes on top at the back, the darker below) and then came back to it with the colours better-held and the difference was startling - it's ALL meant to be a diamond-trellis like the top few rows...



Even clearer, put into b&w!

Wow!  @Laura_Elsewhere you can really see the difference in tension!

How is everyone?  I am shattered.  I have a colleague who I have decided is an energy vampire (a la “What We Do In The Shadows”).  Every time I have to deal with her, she saps my concentration and my attention span.  Other colleagues have reported the same thing.  The last thing I did before I left the office today was to check up on something on which she was working.  Big mistake.  Now I have a headache and just want to go hibernate in the air-raid shelter.  Please wake me when the War is over.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, here, your Siren suit arrived in the delivery today from Head Office, so you can snuggle down in that... and remember that tin of cocoa that went missing last year? I found it again - how the heck it got on top of the grandfather clock in the Sunday School room I cannot imagine, but anyway, I've got the kettle on and will bring you a nic mug of coca once you're snuggled down... 

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@PipneyJane, here, your Siren suit arrived in the delivery today from Head Office, so you can snuggle down in that... and remember that tin of cocoa that went missing last year? I found it again - how the heck it got on top of the grandfather clock in the Sunday School room I cannot imagine, but anyway, I've got the kettle on and will bring you a nic mug of coca once you're snuggled down... 

I think it was the only place the dog couldn't reach and the cat was unlikely to knock it over AND it was out of reach of that angelic-looking little evacuee who used to raid our biscuits.

I'm not admitting to putting it there, of course... I'm not tall enough, but I may just have asked the Air Raid Warden to put it out of that little girl's sight.

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@PipneyJane, here, your Siren suit arrived in the delivery today from Head Office, so you can snuggle down in that... and remember that tin of cocoa that went missing last year? I found it again - how the heck it got on top of the grandfather clock in the Sunday School room I cannot imagine, but anyway, I've got the kettle on and will bring you a nice mug of coca once you're snuggled down... 

Thank you @Laura_Elsewhere.  The cocoa was lovely - just what I needed last night - and the siren suit was very cozy.  I’ve slept well and am more optimistic today.

@Cherrfudge - I’d forgotten about that “Little Angel”.  I remember how hard it was to hide the biscuit tin where she couldn’t reach it.  Thank you for saving the cocoa from her.

- Pip

nannygladys

Hi everybody, I've been on the hunt for suitable stuff in the cs,  but still I haven't found anything, I know it's wartime and not many people are donating but I'll be nearly nude for the summer!! Mind you it would frighten any invaders away
I'll have to try the next town along when I can get a lift. 
I have got some flowery denim from stash, so may have to make a pinefore dress with that, it's just I wanted to try sewing with some lighter type material first.
The knitting for next winter is going much better.
Nannyg

Laura_Elsewhere

@nannygladys - I always found duvet-covers really useful for lightweight sewing - maybe look in the bedding section?

nannygladys

Laura - I looked at the sheets in my local cs but there weren't any suitable, now eldest dd has finished her course, we are planning a day (morning and lunch out) for a trawl around the cs in a small town about 45mins away, as she been before and says the cs are really good there, so we are both looking forwards to that, especially the pub  lunch!!!

The knitting of the jumper for next winter is coming along fine, still taking it easy, so wrists don't complain too much. The other wool I found that I was going to make a stripey jumper from, may become a blanket instead of a jumper but I may change my mind again!!

Nannyg